I am making a helicopter flight sim inspired by Sim Copter (a game I was obsessed with in my youth). The presentation and tone of the game will probably be lighthearted, but I would like a range of flight models from full-arcade to full-simulation (within reason).

I was an aerospace engineer for 8 years and my specialty was flight simulation, but I did mostly fixed-wing and missile sim development, so rotary-wing flight dynamics are new to me.

Can anyone in this community point me toward good resources for developing a standard flight model for helicopters? I should be able to handle full aerodynamics and control systems literature, so don't be afraid of technical depth. I have paged through the FAA Rotorcraft handbook and I'm looking at picking up some textbooks, but I'm so new to this stuff that I don't really know where to start.

You can find more of my games here (and I post progress gifs on my twitter handle):

Simmers don't tend to use video games (I have never owned one and I am not unusual)Gamers tend not to use simulators - the learning curve is tedious and realistic flight is boring (no "crash and burn" or shooting)

Microsoft attempted to appeal to both markets with a product called "Fly" and it was disastrous even though the base platform was free and the dynamics were heading in a good direction..The exception being a few warfare gaming platforms, particularly the DCS franchise that offer good physics/systems and gameplay.

I'll pop back if I can think of a good reference work

Good luck from a fellow developer.

From a pilots perspective, good on concepts but short on maths:"The Helicopter Pilots Manual - Vol.1 Principals of flight and helicopter handling" by Norman Bailey. Published by Airlife Publishing

--------------Mark Adams U.K. Hovercontrol Certified Pilot

Bluebottle: Flying insect with unsavoury habits, incapable of flying in a straight line, often lands inverted.

Thanks for the advice. Our target audience will be gamers, and our focus as a team will be on designing a city full of interesting architecture and fun characters. There is a hole in the market for a lighthearted helicopter sim, and our development budget will be small enough that I think we have a business case assuming we make a good game (I'm expecting this to sell in the $15-$20 range).

I plan to design a career system for progression that allows players to pick up contracts at their discretion, earn money, and eventually use that money to purchase new equipment (helicopters, payloads, etc). Again, Sim Copter is a major influence - it was a game more focused on the career of piloting than the mechanics of it - but I would like our game to include flight models with varying levels of realism, and my dream would be to include a full-simulation flight model with autopilot assists to scale difficulty.

I have left our design space for contracts/missions as broad as anything real helicopters do right now. Taxi, policing, reconnaissance, heavy lift, and movie shoots are a few easy ideas.

I certainly don't expect to make a simulation that competes in realism with the software you all use and contribute to, but I hope that by engaging you early I might be able to design some aspect of the game to appeal to your enthusiasm. At a minimum, I don't know anything about helicopters or piloting, so I have a lot to learn, and you are the crowd to help me understand the culture and the intricacies of the machinery

I'm a simmer, a gamer and a real world private pilot fixed and helicopter. I would love to play your game! Best Wishes!

Awesome! I will be creating a development log at TigSource in the next couple days for this project. I'll link it as soon as I do for anyone who wants to follow along.

Also, I'm still looking for a good book on rotorcraft dynamics and control. I am mainly concerned with damping and induced forces and moments. I'm assuming they're different than with fixed wing aircraft. Here's an image from "Airplane Flight Dynamics and Automatic Flight Controls" by Jan Roskam that hits my desired fidelity: